Hi all, this is @dave@lemmy.nz, here to tell you we've been busy with a new project, PieFedNZ !
TL;DR It's a platform like Lemmy. It federates with Lemmy so largely the content is the same. If you're happy with Lemmy then you don't need to do anything. If you want to try it you'll need a new account. Remote content on PieFedNZ will be more aggressively moderated than on LemmyNZ.
Wait, are you really the same person as @dave@lemmy.nz?
Yep, I put it in my bio as proof: https://lemmy.nz/u/Dave
What is PieFed?
PieFed is a platform very similar to Lemmy, and it federates with Lemmy so the content will be mostly the same (see "The experiment" below). It's lead developer is NZer @rimu@piefed.social who runs piefed.social. You have probably seen PieFed users around, they make up a good 15% of active threadiverse users.
So it's a new frontend?
No, it's an entirely different site and entirely separate software. The alternate frontends let you use your LemmyNZ account to log in but present things in a different way, just like using a different mobile app. PieFed is completely separate, and if you want to use it (other than lurking) you'll need to register for an account there.
What's different about PieFed?
PieFed has a focus on a smoother onboarding and rapid development of features. For onboarding, you'll get some questions when you join that let you select some interests and be automatically subscribed to some communities based on topics. On the side of features, PieFed has polls, emoji reactions, user created feeds, scheduled posts, the ability to be reminded about a post, and many more that I'm still discovering.
The ability to create communities is also turned on for PieFedNZ. Creating communities on LemmyNZ will remain disabled.
The experiment
Over the last three years, moderation has been pretty hands off on LemmyNZ. We only defederate a small number of instances, people generally aren't dicks to each other in local communities, and remote content is generally left alone outside of spam or trolls. This plan hasn't changed, and if you're looking for this experience then it will continue as long as people aren't taking advantage of it.
However, one common complaint of Lemmy is the need to block many things to curate what you see, and all the heated arguments people have in the comments. PieFed has a plethora of tools to identify this sort of content, and the intent with PieFedNZ is to make use of them to create a curated experience. This means defederating any instance that doesn't positively contribute to the experience. It means removing communities that might not fit the vision. It means banning users more actively. It means removing content more aggressively. This is not a promise to remove all such content, we do not have the time to do that. It's simply an open statement that PieFedNZ will not contain everything in the Fediverse, and defederations, banning, or removals will happen without notification.
A lot of Threadiverse drama recently has stemmed from those in a position of power blocking access to certain content without being open about it. Some people don't want someone else to curate their experience and that's valid. So this is where I make it clear that the intent with PieFedNZ is to actively curate content, and if you don't want that experience then LemmyNZ might be a better choice.
Ok, I'll give it a go. How do I sign up?
Just like LemmyNZ, you'll need to apply for an account and wait for it to be approved.
Sign up here
Note this is a direct link to the registration form. If you click "Register" from the website then you'll see an instance chooser form along with the ability to continue to the registration form.
Wait, what's with the threadiverse.nz links?
Having PieFedNZ help pages and LemmyNZ help pages in the same place made sense, so to avoid a fight I registered a new domain for it.
I have questions!
Ask away! The PieFed features are not well documented yet, so we are all learning together.